Fifth-grader Jade Adams ran on a mission: Make New Hampshire the 13th state to ban animal testing.

Jade, a student at Wells Memorial School in Harrisville, was sworn in as the state’s 2025 kid governor at the State House on Tuesday, embarking on a one-year term. She promised a three-pronged approach to her campaign promise: Encourage kids to buy cruelty-free products, run a letter-writing campaign to the governor’s office and travel to schools across the state to educate her peers on how to buy cruelty-free items and how to treat animals well.

“We need to find alternatives to test products for research and learning because hurting these poor animals is not the right way to do it,” said Jo Ann Robichaud, delivering Jade’s inaugural address on her behalf. Robichaud directs the New Hampshire Kid Governor program. “Animals should go outside, playing and running around to get their energy out. They should have toys to play with, then be given hugs and lots and lots of treats.”

Twelve other states, including Maine, have passed laws to ban product testing on animals.

Jade was joined by six other students sworn in as the state’s Kid Executive Councilors. State leaders – including Gov. Kelly Ayotte, Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill, Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald and Senate President Sharon Carson – also taught the crowd of students and parents about the three branches of government.

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.